Why riding a bike makes sense in these troubled times!

We are stuck in difficult times. Fuel prices seem to be soaring beyond control; taxes are finding creative ways of making their presence felt in our pockets, prices of essential goods are higher than ever, almost everything is so much more inaccessible than they were say 10 years ago. If you’re a speed demon, then these are the dark ages.

Filling up your tank to indulge in your passion now costs twice as much, if not more; the rise in global crude oil has even affected the cost of our precious grip inducing rubber!

But just as people have found ways to cope with challenges, us speed mongers have found alternatives as well, with a number of us taking on two wheels instead of four. The adrenalin rush, the passion, the challenge, the camaraderie, everything remains the same.

True, it is definitely more dangerous, but where’s the fun in staying safe? There’s a very good reason why people go sky-diving naked, drive at over 200 km/h and for riders, scrape their knees while tackling a fast corner. And that’s because dopamine – the hormone that provides an adrenaline rush – is highly addictive!

Sure, a disaster is always just a blink away, but disasters don’t just happen, they are caused by lunacy, bad judgement, drugs, alcohol and ego-feeding machismo, and if you are so inclined – faith (in which case even traveling in a tank won’t save you either).

Bikes are brilliant. They are fast, cheap to run, traffic jams don’t bother bikes (until it starts to rain), and the whole process of putting on your gear and helmet makes you feel like you’re about to go to war! It’s exciting before you even start to ride.

Bikes are a little like fine women, ride one well and the reward is satisfying, but get it wrong and your life is on the line. It really separates the men from the boys.

In the context of superbikes and such, they have largely been inaccessible thanks to the price, high down payment, the whole process of getting a license, and the cost of safety gear.

The prices of superbikes are still beyond the reach of most people. The down payment for a bike loan is still hovering around 20 – 30%, and interest rates are pretty steep as well.

As for safety gear, ask any biker if it’s worth compromising on safety just to get a cheaper alternative, and you’re likely to be in for an earful. There’s absolutely no compromising on safety. Good brands, padded gear, good build quality, and even good tyres are the fundamental basics. And ATGATT – short for All The Gear All The Time – should be enshrined in your mind.

Licensing is another issue; the entire process of attending classes, then training, then examinations can be very tiresome and time consuming. That’s probably why many superbikers on the road today don’t have their license.

Of course, there are easier ways around that, but I’m not going to touch on that, visit your friendly driving school for more information. But if you are thinking that just because you have ridden a scooter and some kapcai, therefore you can ride a superbike, then the classes and training is the safer route for you. Safer for both you and others on the road.

Moving on to the bikes then.

So for the sake of this story, I brought together three very different bikes with very unique abilities, and yet worlds apart to demonstrate how you can indulge in everything a speed demon needs with the convenience of daily transport. Of course there are a number of bikes that deserve to be listed as good entry level bikes but the trio were called together based on availability.

Just to make a point, the owners of all these bikes started off as all-out car nuts, charging Porsche’s and M3’s up some of the trickiest roads in Malaysia, and competing against each other to post the fastest time around Sepang. Bikes suddenly made more sense because you get all the thrill at a budget. It made good economic sense to all.

The Yamaha Diversion XJ6 is the entry level sport bike. It’s the cheapest among the three, the friendliest to ride, and the easiest to live with. It was built to be used on a daily basis, cruise long distance when need be, and attack corners when asked to do so. Simply put, if you’re looking for a bike that will take you on to bigger things, the XJ6 is it.

Built locally, the XJ6 doesn’t command a hefty price tag either. At RM40,647.50, its the cheapest four-cylinder sport bike in Malaysia. The highlight of the XJ6, besides its good looks, is its engine. Besides sounding something like Judge Dredd’s cruiser, the four-cylinders provide a smooth ride with minimal vibrations. This makes long distance cruising quite comfortable.

The engine’s 600cc displacement returns 77 hp and 60 Nm of torque. And if you pull all the way till its 12,000 rpm redline, you will see 100 km/h in slightly more than three seconds and 200 km/h in a little over 20 seconds. That’s not going to win you a duel with a Ferrari or a Ducati, but it’s more than enough to set your heart racing.

However, at 211 kg, it’s no lightweight. It’s no carving knife in the corners either as its heft tends to push it off your intended line, forcing you to slow down. The low set foot pegs also tend to scrape if you try to take on a dramatic lean angle. But it’s still plenty of fun once you get accustomed to its character, and is a great introductory machine.

The KTM 690 Duke R is the other entry-level bike, but unlike the do-it-all XJ6, the Duke R is more suited to stunting and urban riding. It’s a tall bike, but there are mods available to lower the seat height. It’s a mean looking naked bike too, almost as if it’s about to transform into an evil Decepticon and throw you off its saddle at high speed.

Get on the bike and immediately it makes you feel like popping a standing wheelie, terrorise some pedestrians with a stoppie, and pulling off a rolling burnout at a busy intersection.

The 690 Duke R is incredibly fast, and that’s because it’s powered by the world´s most powerful single-cylinder bike engine. The 690cc powerplant produces similar figures to the XJ6 – 70 hp and 70 Nm of torque. But weighing in at only 148 kg, the Duke R totally trumps the XJ6. Still the acceleration figures to 100 km/h remains in the sub-3 second category. The weight savings is meant to make wheelie’s easier rather than help you win drag races.

But while it excels at looking and behaving naughty, the Duke R is not very friendly for long distance riding. That’s because its single-cylinder engine sends vibration up your spine worse than a classic single engine Cessna at take-off and landing. The way to deal with the vibrations is to ride fast, it’s just that the upright seating position exposes you to the onslaught of wind and beetles.

So stick to urban commuting and the KTM 690 Duke R will do just fine. Slap on an Akrapovic exhaust can and you’ll be slicing through traffic like a hot knife through butter. It’s incredibly capable and there’s a very good reason why some of the world’s biking media call it the best single-cylinder bike in the world. That should be reason enough to splash slightly over RM48,000 on it.

If the Yamaha and KTM are entry level bikes for the aspiring superbiker, the BMW R1200R is the bike for the aspiring ‘ride-around-the-world’ tour rider with a fat bank account. It’s worlds apart from the other two and features a gadget list longer than your average car.

At RM112,000, it’s not cheap at all. There are a lot of cars that you can buy for that much money, however it’s meant to compliment your car rather than being your sole mode of transport. But a good, reliable, fast bike like the BMW R1200R can serve as your primary transport if need be. And there aren’t many cars that can return an incredible fuel consumption figure of just 5.5-litres for every 100 km at a constant speed of 120 km/h. There’s just the small matter of Malaysian weather.

Acronyms like ASC (Automatic Stability Control), ESA (Electronic Suspension Adjustment), ABS, and TPC (tyre pressure control), work in unison to give the rider the safest and the most comfortable ride while traversing continents. Its twin-cylinder horizontally-opposed boxer engine provides a smooth ride while churning out 109 hp and 115 Nm of torque, more than enough to power through dangerous situations or to indulge in traffic light drag races.

Your travels taking you up some chilly mountains? No fear as the heated grips will keep you warm while you concentrate on the road ahead.

At 228 kg, it’s pretty obvious that the R1200R is no corner-slinger but more of a Bahn-stormer. The weight makes it feel stable and subdued at high speed; despite its weight the R1200R will still do the 100 km/h sprint in just 3.6 seconds.

Did I mention it’s incredible easy to ride? With an impressive equipment list, great safety acronyms, incredible frugality, and pleasant retro looks, it’s almost a complete bike. All that is left is having lots of money to buy it.

So there it is then. Three great bikes provide a great case on why biking is the way to go in these days of raising costs and insane traffic jams. Safety is a personal issue, ride safe and stay safe, ride like a lunatic and get buried with a mangled torso, it’s as simple as that.

If you’re thinking of riding, there’s just one golden rule. Riding is not like driving, you can still get into a Ferrari Enzo and drive away, biking is not as simple. It’s an evolutionary process that requires you to start with something small and manageable and then make your way to bigger, more powerful bikes. Money can buy you a nice bike, but can’t buy you valuable experience.

Do yourself a favour, save fuel, save time, increase productivity, ride a bike.

Keshy Dhillon loves anything with an engine, be it four wheels, two wheels or more. It's just something about power, speed and handling that has this self-confessed 'hardcore enthusiast' pushing the boundaries of power and grip at every opportunity. Keshy has been detailing the experience of driving and riding since 2007.

Chill out dude, i kinda like the way Kesh put his words. Honest straight to the point and aggressive, that’s the way we live in this world, in case you didn’t notice?
You wanna complaint, try looking at the way some guys gives their comment on this blog.. some are just plain stupid bigots.

Anyway Kesh welcome to the blog, having affair with the wife sister’s sure sounds familiar.. ahaks.
That KTM is a menace.. at sub 59K.. it is sweeet.

personally i don’t care about all these. hell you guys can swear till kingdom come. However, if you wanna keep this website to be ‘U’ then i guess there ought to be some restraint. Just my 2 cents worth. chill out

Okay, everyone, point noted on your opinions; we’ve removed the line from the article. On that note, can we also get everyone’s cooperation to not use expletives and abusive language in comments (example below)? That’s not cricket either, to borrow a term.

Hahaha it’s kinda funny albeit a bit offensive. He’s just insinuating that most of the time the girl we date will likely have a HOTTER younger or older sister, (which sometimes we do have some crazy ideas lingering in our minds). In my case, its quite true! :D
Take the comments here with a bit of salt Keshy, your writing is good, but there’s always improvement up ahead.. Cheers~!

motorbikes are cheap and economical but when it rains and when it’s hot, cannot tahan! why can’t bikes with roof and aircond sell in Msia? A number of them entered from taiwan and china but cannot sell well in Msia… why ?

Check out Mythbuster (http://youtu.be/ooGe-TVIx9M)
If you want to save your wallet…….go for the bike
If you want to save the world from harmful gases that can kill you and cause diseases AND avoid being an irritant on the road (personal thing, pls ignore)………go for a car

PS: those who are in a tight or difficult financial problem……try go 4 a car , try, for the safety of yours and other’s valuable live on the road. (no pressure)

You mentioned yourself in the article: it rains. In KL it rains every afternoon when you go back from work. No matter how expansive your bike is, still cannot be safe from the rain. Sure got some BMW bikes with that arch on top of it-does not protect you from the severe rainfall in Malaysia. At RM112k, I’d get a Satria Neo R3 at RM80k, RM22k in petrol change is quite a lot. I agree with you that bike gives a lot of adrenaline I too have a bike. However, I had my fair share of kissing the pavement. Getting too old for dopamine. Also, the AC is better than smog air during rush hour.

Yes, but strapping into the suit takes time. Also, if you want to ciluk, get something small. Superbike cannnot ciluk especially jam. Also, one time jatuh from superbike need to ask help from 3 other people to angkat it-that one malu besar…. Ex5 is more agile compared to Rxz anytime. Those gore-tech clothes are more suitable to temperate climates since you don’t sweat a lot and the rainfall is not as strong as Malaysia. That said, in heavy rain, even the bravest of riders find cover because it is easier to aquaplane the bike than the car. Crazy got a point there. I’ve gotten serik with raincoats. Good when it works, then slowly it seeps through (capillary action) until your underwear also wet. Another thing about the full leather clothing is that you need to have a physically nice body. If you got spare tyre, it is going to look ugly…

Also, people still need to carry big items, still need a car no matter how good the bike is. Having a family will influence if you are a biker or not big time.

I will admit, the bike is deadly efficient. You want to save money, get a bike <200cc for short commutes. Easy to maintain, It is faster. easier to ciluk, uses little fuel, easy to park and you can technically carry 12 kg chickens in 3 separate bags two on each handle for stability. As a wow-factor to impress your mates, bigger the superbike, the more they will be amazed

-straping raincoat for 10 minute same as car stuck in traffic jam for 10 minute. after strap on, then ride lor. it still ahead from car what…
-bike size depend. those 150cc below easy cilok maa. look at their size la. of course la big bike hard a bit to cilok. just look at their size. goldwing having hard time to cilok due to big size. also goes on some models too (voyager, vulcan9,gtr14 and other same league). several 1000cc and middleweight had no problem ciloking. anyways, big bikes still can cilok way ahead from car. my bike no problem ciloking even is 1.2liter touring bike
-big bikes nowadays build lighter than their predessor. even one skinny person can lift up z1000 easyly after fall down. unless he rides big fat ass bikes, which required help from others
– cars also have to slow down in heavy rain. why still speeding in that condition? wanna die fast?
– what the heck physical body need to do with riding? many time i see big person ride zx150 and still ahead from car. even wear raincoat but still weaty inside until underware dept. aiya. no one know your panty wet or not. (sorry rude word) ahahaha. apa susah. reach house go get shower then change cloth lar
– bro, do you see how many bikes that cary 5 tong gas per day? heavier than your own luggage. and still ahead from car. not related to family influence. if you got kids and wife to sent/fetch, use car lor. if go to work with wife or solo, ride bike lor. win win situation what…

even though car have more advantages, dont forget that bike can zap more than you can imagine

So what if it rains in the afternoon? That’s why each biker who commutes to work is always be prepared with an invention called a raincoat. Even if it rains too heavily, then there are still plenty of places to stop by for a smoke, makan-makan or lepak-lepak while waiting for the rain to stop. Those are the people who really appreciate their hard work to earn every single cent of money. In the end, even if they don’t earn much, they always have some money to spare rather than most single-occupancy car drivers who are supposed to earn a lot more but always don’t have enough money to live. So they deserve to be blessed for their hardship of enduring rain or shine for every single cent of money.

I do respect biker really much, I was them before, jz Honda EX5, but not rempit one.. I try not to offend them in the motorway, like “cucuk”, or even I’ll give really ample space for them during overtaking.. but I hate mat rempit (kapcai, or SUPERbike) attitude in our road.. happy motoring guys..

I love driving cars (but not in traffic jam) I also love riding bikes, be it superbikes or kapchais. And I always prefer singing in the rain (with a good raincoat on) than being stuck in the jam in a car.

nice review…hopefully there will be also another review of an affordable bikes available in malaysia..seldom got bikes review which only talks bout car..well we know powerfull car cost a lot than ckd big bike available in the country..some people like me or maybe a lot keen to have one but just because lack of dealerships & service supports that hold us..beside limited ckd bike for sale..keep up these good review..maybe next time more ckd bikes are coming from local manufacturers..

nice… planning to get an XJ-6 myself. but u should have included the kawasaki er-6f/er-6n. they are currently the cheapest aren’t they?i don’t care what others think. i love bigbikes like how i love my cars!

there’s no harm in riding safe, and to all bikers, please2 be alert all the time. some F-ing drivers are so arrogant, that they forget we are humans too. anyhow, God is good. and at the end of the day, all that is good, ends good. cheers people! :D

Good article about the bikes..but one liner from this thousands words made more fuss than real content…so bro..please get rid of those “funky” wording you used among your buddies here…pple here just get too sensitive for those thingy… :)

not to offend anybody here, jz expressing my thought.. sometime so call SUPERbike rider hv a bit arrogantess while ridding their bike.. especially in the highway.. hey dude, you ride free in the highway, pls respect car driver (we pay TOLL ticket).. for me their jz like other mat rempit, but in more bigger bike!!

More than 90% of bikers commute on 2 wheels because they can’t afford to run 4 wheels. Only about 1000 bikes above 250cc are sold last year. Much lesser in the years before.
Among the big bikers, only a small percentage are irresponsible on the road. The rest of the bikers are well aware that it is their flesh covering the metal each time they are riding.

And for those on 4 wheels, have you forgotten that the right lane is for overtaking. So stop driving on the right lane and blocking faster traffic. And please do make use of the indicators when changing lanes.

Coz i,m too, moved from driving a car, now i drive & ride.. huhuh.. realy saved my time a lot!

seriously more people should ride than drive a car.
mostly ppl drive a car alone. big vehicle 1 person only.
if more people ride, this could reduce traffic jams.
reduce traffic jams, good for safety as well.

p/s: the cheaper & more performance >600cc than Xj6 is er6. Rm32K. Xj6 only win the market for its smoothness of 4 inline and of course the sound!! peh… tangkap leleh..
u dont have to buy V8 engine car.. just get 4inline superbike.

Keshy… 2 thumbs up from me. Even though i am not a bike kinda person (but having some sort of mid-life bike fantasy, thanks to your article), i enjoyed reading your bit. Not sure why some here are so worked up about it… but just do what you gotta do, and keep it honest. Thats the way we like it.

Keshy Dhillon, jokes aside, I hope you’ll write more articles on different type bikes and its advantages. I myself am a rider, and only when it’s raining in the morning or weather forecast tell me its raining in the evening, I’ll go to my office in my car. I enjoy riding a lot, because it gives me the thrill especially when taking nice curves and also its fuel economy. (I usually get 350km per 8 litres of fuel for my 150cc bike – 150cc is the most sensible for city riding!). Maintenance and modifications are also economical compared to a car as the accessories are quite easily accessible and on the cheap. However, the bikes you reviewed here are more for advanced riders, and ask any experienced riders – they started out small. Start out with a 150cc or 250cc bike, any brand will do. Ride it out until you are confident you can scrape your knees on the tarmac and get up again.
Only rich brats will start out with 600cc and above bikes, thinking they are already a “true” rider on their expensive machine. But starting with a good bike, you’ll never learn the ugly side of riding a two wheeler. Taking a corner without ABS, losing the “stability” of a big bike, taking a fall from a bike, riding on different terrain, etc. Rempits are brave idiots, they sure ride well but they are doing it illegally on the road (aside other social problems). But given the experience they have, and a good bike, I’m confident they can take out any newbie on a 600cc bike even with a Honda CB400 at the Sepang Track.

what if there is a bike with roof and aircond, for the ladies… or maybe 3 wheels, 2 in-front, 1 at the back like the Merc concept bike a few years ago? The roof and side bars improve safety by 300% for bikers while roof acts as rain protection. Main problem is traffic jam and fuel cost so a roof and aircond might solve it all? no?

Damn, leave Keshy be. Hate ppl who pretend to be angels here. WTH, for all I know those hypocrites do the exact same thing. Keshy is just writing as it is. Controversial? Yes. But refreshing to see. The world needs more ppl like this.

My god, the number of attackers here. Such an unpleasant first impression for Keshy. I do agree that his writing style is a little rougher than the others, but that’s no reason to curse him. Calm down la people, you’re going to pop a gasket.

I see the viewpoints in favour of getting a bike, but I’m going to stick to cars. I find plenty of adrenaline, and I’m a creature of comforts, so the aircon is a must for me :)

On a side note, I seem to recall a Keshy doing a review for the Ford Fiesta in AutoWorld some time back, is that you? Loved that review, by the way.

Good article. More bike review please in the future. I’m a biker myself, and you’re stating a lot of truth concerning our local bike scene. High price indeed, our country only favors the smaller kapcais than superbike. Unless you have ride a bike at 200km/h only than you know what you’re missing in your life. But please don’t get a superbike without training first. No safety gear will save you if you blindly ride without having skills in riding first.

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